The decision was made to attack Damascus. The armies were assembled in Acre. Present were Baldwin, the Patriarch Fulcher, Kings Louis and Conrad, Archbishops of Caesarea and Nazareth, Masters of the Knights Temple and Hospital.

King Richard I landed at Tyre and quickly moved towards Acre, where he needed to help an army that was besieging the town which was being held by a garrison of Saladin's troops. By July 12th, the town fell to Richard. Richard held Saladin's men hostage in exchange for 200,000 dinars and the release of 1500 of Richard's own troops who were being held by Saladin. When no ransom was paid, Richard publicly executed 2700 of the garrison. It was at this point that Richard angered Leopold of Austria, who was to imprison Richard as he tried to return to Normandy. Leopold's banner was ripped down from alongside Richard's and the French. The banners indicated that the spoils of war should be shared, but Richard was not prepared the share with Leopold, who had not contributed to the fall of Acre.

The Sultan of Babylon abandoned plans to attack Acre at the arrival of Edward. Edward moved on to Nazarus where large numbers of Muslims were killed. Becoming ill, Edward returned to Acre where he stayed for 18 months. The fortifications of Acre being too strong for any attackers, an assassination attempt was made on Edward by a messenger from the Emir of Jaffa. The messengers had become a regular occurrence and one managed to approach Edward while he was alone and unarmed. The assassin attempted to stab Edward with a poisoned knife, but Edward saved himself and killed the assassin instead. Edward did suffer a cut and the poison took hold. Luckily, a skilful doctor cut away the poisoned area and, with drugs sent by the master of the Knights Templar, Edward survived.